1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for forming partition walls of a plasma display device using wire saws.
2. Description of the Related Art
A plasma display device is a device for generating light by exiting fluorescent materials or special gases. That is, a predetermined voltage is applied across two electrodes installed in a hermetically sealed space filled with a gas to create a glow discharge, and a fluorescent layer is excited by ultraviolet radiation occurring during the glow discharge to form an image.
The plasma display device includes upper and lower substrates, partition walls formed to define a discharge space between the upper and lower substrates, at least one pair of electrodes provided in the discharge space to create a main discharge or an auxiliary discharge. The partition walls are usually formed on the upper surface of the lower substrate, and the conventional method of forming partition walls are as follows.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional method of forming partition walls, which utilizes a printing method.
As shown in FIG. 1, an electrode layer 12 of a predetermined pattern is formed on the upper surface of a substrate 11, and a dielectric layer 13 of an insulation layer is formed on the substrate 11 on which the electrode layer is formed. Further, after a screen 14 in which the same pattern as the partition wall pattern is formed is laid on the substrate 11 on which a dielectric layer 13 is formed, partition wall material 10-15 thick is repeatedly printed, and is dried and thermally set to form partition walls 15.
In the above-mentioned method, since the printing process and the drying and thermosetting process of the partition walls must be repeated, the deformation of the partition walls may take place. In particular, since the screen must be aligned with the substrate before every printing process, misalignment may take place. Accordingly, there is a problem in that the surface of the partition walls is not sharp. This results in decreased productivity.
FIG. 2 shows an another conventional method of forming partition walls.
Referring to FIG. 2, a partition wall layer 24 of a predetermined thickness is formed on the upper surface of the substrate 23 sequentially provided with an electrode layer 21 and a dielectric layer 22 considering the height of the partition wall to be formed. Then, an abrasion preventing mask 25 which has the same pattern as the partition wall pattern is laid on the partition wall layer 24, and sand mixed with high pressure air or water is blasted on the upper surface of the partition wall layer 24. Accordingly, the portions of the partition wall layer 24 which are not shielded by the abrasion preventing mask 25 are abraded to form discharge spaces. Here, the other portions which are not abraded due to the abrasion preventing mask 25 are partition walls 26.
In the above method of forming the partition walls, the process of forming the abrasion preventing mask 25 is complicated, and since the partition wall material is removed in a fine powder state, a pollution problem is caused. Further, a separate cleaning process is required to remove the sand adhering to the partition wall material after abrading the partition wall layer 24. Furthermore, when the above method is employed, it takes a long time to form the partition walls. When considering the present state of the art, it is hard to form partition walls of desired precision and mechanical strength by the above sand blasting method.